Just one more multicolored miracle from Pat Williams, their founding father and resident lucky charm.

He is the mythical Magician who can turn those kaleidoscopic pingpong balls in the NBA Draft lottery into franchise makers.

Except this time, it's different.

This time the Magic need to rent out Providential Pat to the Brooklyn Nets.

"I'm not for sale," Williams says and laughs. "I work for the Magic. I can't be bought."

But he would be working for the Magic — indirectly. You see, the Magic desperately need the Nets to win the draft lottery Wednesday. If that happens, the Nets get the rights to Kentucky freshman phenom Anthony Davis, whom they could then trade to the Magic for Dwight Howard.

It is the perfect scenario for everybody involved. The Nets need an established, charismatic superstar to make an immediate impact when they move into the sports-congested, star-studded Big Apple, where athletes such as Derek Jeter, Eli Manning, Carmelo Anthony and Tim Tebow dominate the landscape. Dwight could make the Nets relevant immediately.

By all indications, Dwight wants out of Orlando, and his No. 1 trade destination is said to be Jay-Z's Nets. They seem to represent everything he wants: a fresh start in a new arena in a new city in the biggest market in the country. As much as Orlando loves Dwight, it's becoming more and more apparent he wants to be someplace else. If that's how he feels, it's his life and his career. Time to let him go.

Anthony Davis is not Dwight, but maybe he will be someday. Who knows, maybe he'll be even better. And that's the best the Magic can do right now. Davis would at least give Orlando fans hope. And remember what the great American poet Emily Dickinson once wrote:

"Hope is the thing with feathers,

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without words.

And never stops at all."

The thing is, the Nets have only a 7.5 percent chance of getting the No. 1 pingpong ball in the draft lottery, which is where Pat Williams comes in. He is the pingpong prodigy who has won the draft lottery three times. The last time, of course, was in May 2004, when he won the right to draft Dwight.

Incredibly, he won back-to-back lotteries in 1992 and 1993 that landed the Magic Shaquille O'Neal and Chris Webber. The Magic then traded Webber for Penny Hardaway and three first-round draft picks. Amazingly, the Magic had the best record of all the nonplayoff teams in 1993 and had only a 1.5 percent chance of winning that lottery. When it happened and the Magic became the only team in history to win back-to-back lotteries, the NBA changed the rules to further decrease the chances of the best nonplayoff team winning.

"When we won in '93, you could feel a chill come over the room," Williams remembers. "It was so cold, it felt like a meat locker in there. I remember this grim look on David Stern's face when the announcement was made that we'd won. The rules were being changed before I even got to the stage."

The Magic don't have any championship trophies in their trophy case, but they do have those three pingpong balls on display. Or, at least, the shells of them. Their souls, Williams insists, are in "celluloid heaven."

The secret to his success, Williams says, is you have to treat the pingpong balls like the girl of your dreams. Talk to them. Pamper them. Treasure them. Tell them how pretty they are and how much you love them.

This is why Williams is just what the Nets — and the Magic — need when the lottery is held Wednesday. And even if he can't or won't go up personally to represent the Nets, the Nets need to at least come visit him in Orlando beforehand to get some of his positive mojo.

Actually, Williams claims he has some magical pingpong balls he would be willing to part with — for a price. If the Nets or any other team are willing to give up future draft choices, money, whatever, Williams is willing to listen.

"You see," Williams says, "we have a pingpong-ball farm out at Disney, and every so often, Tinker Bell comes around and sprinkles pixie dust on those pingpong balls. We haven't needed one in a while, but, nevertheless, those magical pingpong balls are out there. We will be glad to sell them if the offer is good enough."